Chapter 223: Kneel and Surrender

Break the Enemy!

As smoke signals traveled from Shule to Yarkand, Mo Xiaobai quickly saw the signal sent by Ban Chao.

The day the two parted in Shule, they had agreed that if the Kushan army invaded, Yarkand must send smoke signals immediately. If the Kushan army showed signs of retreat, Shule must also notify them in time.

Now the smoke signal came from the northeast. Mo Xiaobai immediately clenched his fist excitedly: “It looks like the Kushan army can’t hold on. They will probably retreat south from the Shule direction.”

“My Lord, we should quickly send a message to General Li to agree on a date and attack the Kushan camp outside the city from two sides at the same time.”

Standing on the City Wall with Mo Xiaobai and watching the distant smoke, Guo Jia also had a big smile: “Right now, the Kushan cavalry’s morale is low, the soldiers are too weak to put on armor, and the horses can’t carry heavy loads. This is a great time to destroy the enemy!”

Seeing that Guo Jia was pushing for an attack, Mo Xiaobai immediately asked: “Fengxiao, Maogong, when do you think is the best time to attack?”

“The Western Regions become bitterly cold at night. Although this is bad for the enemy, our army mixes Han Soldiers and Western Region Soldiers. It is also hard to move everyone at night, so we should not attack at night.”

Guo Jia thought for a moment, then looked out at the camp: “Why not attack our enemy camp hard in the hot afternoon? Even if the Kushan soldiers want to fight, they will be too weak to resist our army.”

“Maogong, what do you think?”

“What the Military Advisor says is a good plan to beat the enemy.” Li Ji nodded with a smile. Even if Fengxiao didn’t say it, he would have suggested the same thing.

With all the civil and military staff having the same idea, Mo Xiaobai made the decision immediately: “Since you both think it is doable, send a letter to the Flying General. At the third quarter of the fifth hour, we will attack the enemy camp from the north and south sides at the same time.”

…

The fifth hour!

According to the 24-hour system, this is between 13:00 and 15:00.

The third quarter is close to 14:00.

This is the hottest time of the day in the Western Regions.

The Kushan soldiers guarding the camp, who had been hungry for two days, leaned weakly against the wooden fence, sticking out their tongues to lick their dry lips from time to time.

Because there was no food, the Kushan soldiers didn’t even have the strength to go to the distant river to get water. Right now, the camp lacked not only food but also made drinking a drop of water not very easy.

“When will we be able to go home?”

“Who doesn’t want to go home? If we don’t go back soon, we will starve to death here.”

“The General should take us away, away from this hellish Western Regions.”

“If we can go back alive, I will never come here again, never again in this life.”

A dozen or so soldiers, weak and listless, took turns speaking. The topic they discussed had long changed from how to kill more Han People to how to go home.

At the same time, the sound of the ground shaking came from the front. If this were an ordinary time, this group of Kushan soldiers would definitely look out immediately and warn the camp.

But now, only two or three soldiers turned their heads to look. There was no anxiety or wariness in their eyes. Instead, there was a trace of relief.

The trouble of hunger and thirst had not affected their thinking.

Almost all the Kushan soldiers present knew what the sound from the distance was, but they didn’t have the strength to stand up, let alone shout.

Or perhaps, even if they warned everyone, it would be useless. There were too many in the whole camp who were in the same situation as them.

Maybe if the Han Army broke through the camp and they became captives, the Han People would send them back to their hometown on the other side of Congling.

Slowly, the figures of the Han Army became clearly visible.

A few Kushan soldiers, relying on their willpower, managed to get up. But what followed were arrows like a rainstorm.

Han Archers and Yarkand Archers started firing volleys from two hundred steps away. Before the Kushan soldiers who just stood up could open their mouths, nearly ten sharp arrows were already stuck in their bodies.

He forgot that he was not wearing heavy armor right now.

Facing the sharp Western Region long arrows, the Kushan soldier without armor protection was as fragile as Cai Lun’s paper.

In the blink of an eye, he was shot full of holes like a wasp’s nest.

“Kill!”

After a volley of archery covered the advance, Mo Xiaobai, who personally led the troops to charge at the Kushan camp, raised his long spear and gave the only order for the general.

At this moment, no more tricks were needed.

For the Han Army that had been hiding inside the city for a long time, they just needed to kill fiercely.

Thirty seconds later, the Rattan Armor Soldiers at the front broke through the front gate of the Kushan camp in one move. Then, thousands of mixed Cavalry charged into the camp.

When the sounds of fighting and killing rose at the front of the Kushan camp, there were sounds of battle spreading from the rear. Li Guang led nearly a thousand Cavalry at the head, followed by Yarkand soldiers who gathered from various Fortress towns.

These Yarkand soldiers might not be good at hard formation battles, but for a slaughter where things went their way, they were shouting with enthusiasm one after another.

“General, both the Front Camp and the Rear Camp have been broken by the Han People and the Western Region people.”

“What should we do now?”

“Should we escape?”

With the camp attacked from front and back by the Han Army, and seeing that the enemy was about to reach the central tent, Balu and Paka looked nervously at the Main General Diliya, waiting for Diliya to nod so they could escape the camp with the remaining soldiers who still had some fighting power.

But to their disappointment, Diliya did not nod. Instead, he drew his two-handed great sword: “Where can we escape? Our horses haven’t had enough food for a long time. How far can your horses run?”

“This battle started with us, so it should be finished by us.”

“Soldiers, follow me and fight the Han People one last time!”

“Kill!”

Holding his sword with both hands and growling low, Diliya did not ride his horse. He marched forward toward the Front Camp. His two subordinates, Balu and Paka, could only choose to follow because what Diliya said was the truth.

Even if they tried to escape, they probably wouldn’t get far.

Soon, the only force in the camp that could still be called a resistance force met the large army led by Mo Xiaobai.

Seeing the enemy’s Great General coming on foot, He Chun, who was in the front of the charge, did not think twice and jumped off his horse. He led the Rattan Armor Soldiers to fight fiercely with Diliya’s hundred-man guard unit.

Diliya was tall and big, and the heavy sword in his hand weighed dozens of pounds. He Chun, on the other hand, was just holding a single knife upside down. Looking at it, He Chun was much smaller than Diliya.

The fight between the two was like a heavyweight fighting a featherweight.

Normally, such a battle would easily result in a one-sided situation. But at this moment, the situation on the field was exactly the opposite.

Relying on his single knife and his extremely skilled knife technique, He Chun suppressed Diliya steadily from the very beginning. When the two engaged in hand-to-hand fighting, Diliya already had more than a dozen cuts on his body, while He Chun just got his clothes a little dirty.

Ding~ Whoosh~

At another face-to-face clash, He Chun flicked his knife and sword up, knocking the heavy sword out of Diliya’s hand. Then, he pressed his body forward and kicked out, pinning his opponent hard onto the ground.

His single knife was now hanging at the back of Diliya’s neck.

Seeing that Diliya was losing against the Han General, Balu and Paka both wanted to go save him. But the surrounding Rattan Armor Soldiers had already surrounded them two by two, and they themselves were in danger. They had the heart but not the strength to rush out.

Seeing that He Chun had won a complete victory, Mo Xiaobai immediately spurred his horse forward: “Jianli, don’t kill him yet. Let him order all the Kushan people to kneel and surrender!”